Quality of telecoms services poor, says NCC chief

THE Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah, has described the quality of telecoms service across the country as poor.

Juwah, who spoke in Lagos during a visit to Governor Babatunde Fashola, lamented that with the state having the largest number of subscribers in the country, it meant that the subscribers were getting telecoms services that were not good enough, adding that some of the factors responsible for the service quality challenge were beyond its control.

He blamed the development on ignorance among the policy makers, adding that it could only be better if more infrastructure were in place.

He said: “More investments are a critical success factor in improving the quality of telecoms service in the country.

“Many people do not understand that telecoms can only be better with more infrastructures. For instance, in the UK (United Kingdom), there are more than 65,000 base stations for telecommunications services, in a land mass that is far less than Nigeria’s.

“Nigeria is yet to achieve 25,000 installations across its huge land mass, yet many feel that we have enough and are defacing the environment. In a place like Lagos with very huge population, we have fewer base stations than required.”

According to him, a study carried out by the NCC in 2009 identified a total of 6, 196 masts and towers in Lagos State. He said about 48 per cent of this figure belonged to corporate bodies and individuals while those belonging to the telecom companies were only 25 per cent of the figure.

“Those belonging to the banks constituted about 18 per cent while those belonging to unidentified owners were eight per cent. The broadcast stations had two per cent of this figure. Even if the number of base stations owned by operators, which is 2, 975 then, had increased by 100 per cent, it would still fall short of what is needed to serve Lagos subscribers,” he said.

He lamented that the nation is not blessed with many high-rise buildings that would have served for location of base stations without a lot of people seeing them.

“Our people are also very resistant to the idea of having more base stations near their offices for reasons that could only be traced to ignorance or misinformation,” he added.

Juwah said the regulator was also working at ensuring the security of the nation, especially during emergency situations, through the buiding of Emergency Communications Centres (ECC) across the country.

He said the NCC has elected to assist both the federal and state governments, to introduce the service across the nation in partnership with state governments, adding that the pilot of these centres in Awka, Anambra State and Minna, Niger State have been commissioned.

“Few more centres located in some other states would be commissioned soon. The NCC will equally appreciate the full collaboration and support of the Lagos State government to make Lagos a model city for emergency communications services. Our nation will be a better place to live in with an effective, pervasive and robust emergency communications services, assisting the police, fire service, ambulance services, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Emergency Management Services and other related services, a quicker way to respond to emergencies,” the NCC chief said.